Spurs, Grizzlies give Rockets good test to end preseason

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As the Rockets head into their final two preseason games, the team isn’t looking at the road trip to San Antonio and Memphis as another pair of games that don’t count.

Finishing out the preseason with playoff teams — at the Spurs on Thursday and at the Grizzlies on Friday — will help the Rockets prepare for the season, said James Harden.

“I think this will be great for us,” Harden said. “San Antonio is a great team and they are going to push us to play well. Memphis is also one of the best in the conference so I think this will be a good test.”

Coach Kevin McHale said that he expects that all of his players are healthy enough to play. With that, he intends to play them all to get them ready for other tough back-to-back matchups they will face during the season.

“We will probably play everybody,” McHale said. “We might play some shorter minutes. We didn’t play well last year on the back end of back-to-backs so for us, it isn’t how much you play but how hard you play, so we will play it like it’s the regular season.”